Amid raging CAA stir, PM Modi cancels Assam visit for 2nd time in a month

GUWAHATI: PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday cancelled his proposed visit to Assam for the inauguration of the 3rd Khelo India Youth Games on Friday, making it the second time in less than a month that he has called off a trip to the state against the backdrop of the anti-citizenship law agitation.
The All Assam Students Union (Aasu) and other organisations at the forefront of the protests had threatened to unleash the "anger of the people" on Modi if he decided to go ahead with the trip.
"The Prime Minister is not coming to inaugurate the games. The chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal) is flying to New Delhi tomorrow and is likely to meet him. We will discuss with the state leadership if we can extend an invitation to the PM for the closing ceremony on January 22," a state government official said.
Sources in the PMO said Modi's scheduled programmes in West Bengal on the same day were clashing with the invitation by Assam, which is why he had to opt for the former. An alternative plan was to have him inaugurate the sporting event via video-conferencing, but that didn't work out either, the sources said.
Avinash Joshi, chief executive officer of the Khelo India Youth Games, chose to keep it open-ended, saying there was "no confirmation from the PMO till now on the invitation to the Prime Minister ". State BJP spokesperson Dewan Dhruba Jyoti Maral gave a similar statement.
A PIB statement issued in the evening said Sonowal and Union minister Kiren Rijiju would attend the inauguration along with a bevy of star athletes.
Modi was to have hosted his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe at a bilateral summit in Guwahati on December 15 and 16, but the violent start to the anti-CAA agitation forced the Centre to "postpone" the meeting to a still undecided date.
Sources said what made the PMO decide against accepting the invitation to the Khelo India event were the protests inside Barsapara Stadium during Sunday's India-Sri Lanka T20 match. Some spectators had booed Sonowal and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
On Tuesday, Aasu adviser Samujjal Bhattacharjee said in Delhi that the people were happy over the games being held in Guwahati, but had different feelings for Modi.
"While we won't do anything to disturb Khelo India, we will hold peaceful protests if the PM visits Assam during the games," he said.